Des Moines Register
04-17-06
Campuses cater to wireless wave
Changes in students' computer-use habits indicate college labs are becoming
obsolete.
LISA ROSSI
REGISTER AMES BUREAU
Ames, Ia. - Universities and colleges will increasingly be yanking the wires out of
their campus computer labs, replacing them with open areas with wireless
Internet access that foster more face-to-face interaction, information technology
experts predict.
Computer labs, which for almost 20 years have served as electronic
encampments for writing papers, sending e-mails and surfing the Web, will go
the way of the floppy disk because today's college students are seeking to be
liberated from straight rows and cubbyholes.
"People want access to the Internet. But at the same time, nothing replaces
talking to your friend about something," said David Sheets , a senior engineering
student at Iowa State University, who often studies in a room called the Active
Learning Complex that has large-screen computers and open areas for students.
ISU is among the higher education institutions expanding the numbers of
computer/study areas that resemble coffee shops. With comfortable furniture
rather than hard chairs in individual spaces, these new areas have become part
of a design that aims to help students collaborate on schoolwork.
"This generation is expert in multitasking," said Jim Davis, chief information
officer at ISU. "They communicate electronically, but it's a highly connected
group of people."
Davis said the result of this new working-space design could spur the
disappearance of pods and cubicles in many workplaces. Students who graduate
into the work world will be accustomed to a lot of face-to-face and electronic
interaction with their peers, he said, and will push for the same kinds work-area
designs in offices.
The rising level of computer ownership among students locally and nationally,
coupled with new trends in teaching and assigning homework in teams, is driving
the trend away from traditional computer labs, technology experts say.
At ISU, 90 percent of students are estimated to have come to campus with a
desktop or laptop computer this year, compared with 36 percent in 1994.
Meanwhile, use of one of ISU's largest labs, at 139 Durham Center, is estimated
to have declined 10 percent to 15 percent per year since 2003, Davis said.
About 80 percent of the public areas on ISU's campus have wireless Internet
access.
At the University of Northern Iowa, use at labs has also decreased, although
officials said its decline is concurrent with dropping enrollment. So far in 2006,
student computer-use statistics show a 9 percent decline, compared with a 2
percent dip in enrollment, records show.
"We're monitoring the very question people are asking us," said Tom Peterson ,
director of ITS-user services at UNI. "Why are you still buying computers and
putting computer labs in?"
Nationally, universities have grappled with how to create learning spaces now
that many students have their own computers, said Peter DeBlois , who works
with Educause, an organization that promotes "the intelligent use of information
technology" in higher education.
When computer labs were first developed on campuses in the 1980s, DeBlois
said, they were expected to provide access for students who didn't own
computers.
"With the rise in student computer ownership, some schools have
decommissioned some of their labs," he said. "Others have stopped building as
many."
Nevertheless, at UNI, Peterson said student leaders are "begging us to stay in
business" because not everyone has a computer.
Joe Murphy, outgoing student body president at UNI, said a "significant"
population of students relies on labs. "The computer labs are always full at all
hours of the night," he said.
In Ames, students are choosing to leave campus with their laptops to crowd into
coffee shops that have free wireless Internet access.
"It takes over the entire space, and it really changes the character of the cafe a
lot of nights - in a good way," said Jonathan Reed, owner of Stomping Grounds
Cafe.
Erin Chapman , 28, a graduate student at ISU, sees some merit in phasing out
lab spaces in favor of areas that resemble the coffee shops where she studies.
"I just think computer labs are kind of cold," she said. "That's why students would
prefer to sit on comfortable couches and know they would not get scolded when
they have a conversation."
The evolution of computer labs
Learning and study areas have evolved from quiet individual cubicles to open,
collaborative rooms. The future? Expect more study spaces that encourage
students to talk in person, rather than solely over the Internet.
1970s: Iowa State University started creating computer labs about the time the
first microcomputers came out - in the late 1970s, said Jim Davis, ISU's chief
information officer .
1980s: In the mid- to late 1980s, personal computers had enough power to do
serious course work and research, and that's when rows of PCs became
common.
1999 : A study area in ISU's Coover Hall was builtComputers with screens large
enough for several students to see were placed in the room, said Doug
Jacobson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, who led
the project. "It's a relaxed atmosphere," he said.
2003: The University of Iowa's Main Library started a program for students to
check out a laptop rather than use a computer in the lab, said Marc Franke of U
of I's Information Technology Services. "I think you will see more of that as time
goes on," he said.
THIS SPRING: At ISU's Durham Center, contractors will begin remodeling a
small computer lab, conference room and work space into an open area for
students with laptops, Davis said. Phase 1 will cost $ 350,000 , he said. Phase 2
will look at one of the largest labs on campus - at 139 Durham.
Computation Advisory Committee
This committee of faculty, staff and students is expected to recommend by the
end of this month how Iowa State University should spend $750,000 in student
computer fees for 2006-07. Their recommendations go to university officials, who
make the final decisions.